Lennar, Pulte And Others Jump On Home Sales Report

The level of pending home sales shot up to the highest level in more than five years in October, adding to a growing mound of evidence the housing recovery is real.

The National Association of Realtors' closely-watched Pending Home Sales Index, which measures pending sales of existing homes, but not new homes, jumped 5.2% to 104.8 for the month, from a revised 99.6 in September, trouncing consensus views for a 1% rise.

The index, considered a leading indicator of the housing market, is 13.2% above October 2011, when it was 92.6.

"We've had very good housing affordability conditions for quite some time, but we're seeing more impact now from steady job creation and rising consumer confidence about home buying now that home prices have clearly turned positive," Yun said in a press statement.

On a year-over-year basis, pending home sales, which reflect contracts but not closings, have risen for 18 months in a row.

By region, the Northeast saw some impact from Superstorm Sandy, but it didn't affect the index much because the storm made landfall in the last few days of the month. Activity surged in the Midwest and is very healthy in the South, but was slightly down in the Northeast and West, Yun said.

The index was the latest in a series of mostly positive reports on housing this week.

Housing and construction continue to be bright spots despite lingering high unemployment and weak overall economic growth, reflected in the lofty No. 4 group ranking for the 19-company Building-Residential/Commercial group on IBD's list of 197 industries.

On Tuesday, S&P Case Shiller said its index of adjusted monthly home sales rose 0.4% in September, the third month in a row of relatively strong growth.

The same day, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) issued its latest house price index, which showed prices had climbed 4.7% for the month of August, vs. the same month a year earlier.

Not all is rosy though. Wednesday, the Commerce Department said sales of new homes in the U.S. dipped 0.3% in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 368,000, from 369,000 in September.

The level of pending home sales shot up to the highest level in more than five years in October, adding to a growing mound of evidence the housing recovery is real.

The National Association of Realtors' closely-watched Pending Home Sales Index, which measures pending sales of existing homes, but not new homes, jumped 5.2% to 104.8 for the month, from a revised 99.6 in September, trouncing consensus views for a 1% rise.

The index, considered a leading indicator of the housing market, is 13.2% above October 2011, when it was 92.6.

"We've had very good housing affordability conditions for quite some time, but we're seeing more impact now from steady job creation and rising consumer confidence about home buying now that home prices have clearly turned positive," Yun said in a press statement.

On a year-over-year basis, pending home sales, which reflect contracts but not closings, have risen for 18 months in a row.

By region, the Northeast saw some impact from Superstorm Sandy, but it didn't affect the index much because the storm made landfall in the last few days of the month. Activity surged in the Midwest and is very healthy in the South, but was slightly down in the Northeast and West, Yun said.

The index was the latest in a series of mostly positive reports on housing this week.

Housing and construction continue to be bright spots despite lingering high unemployment and weak overall economic growth, reflected in the lofty No. 4 group ranking for the 19-company Building-Residential/Commercial group on IBD's list of 197 industries.

On Tuesday, S&P Case Shiller said its index of adjusted monthly home sales rose 0.4% in September, the third month in a row of relatively strong growth.

The same day, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) issued its latest house price index, which showed prices had climbed 4.7% for the month of August, vs. the same month a year earlier.

Not all is rosy though. Wednesday, the Commerce Department said sales of new homes in the U.S. dipped 0.3% in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 368,000, from 369,000 in September.

See Also

After getting some mixed messages from homebuilders earlier in the year, investors received a flurry of cheery news from the industry in the last several days, including strong quarterly financial results from Toll Bros., highlighting buoyancy in the luxury end of the market. Toll Bros. (NYSE:TOL) ...

Pending home sales in January were a sigh of relief for a real estate market that's seen a lot of false starts in the aftermath of the housing bubble and recession. The National Association of Realtors' index rose 1.7%, enough to push it to an 18-month high. January also marked the fifth-straight ...

American builders have a long history of bulldozing farms to make way for new housing. Now developers are starting farms to sell homes. Harvest, a $1 billion "urban agrarian" community by billionaire H. Ross Perot Jr.'s Hillwood Development, teamed with a farmer to grow fruits, vegetables and grain ...

5 The Commerce Dept. said that new single-family home sales rose 5.3% in Jan. vs. '14 to an annualized rate of 481,000. Sales dipped 0.2% from Dec.'s 482,000 pace, but Dec. was the strongest month since June '08. Still, Lennar (NYSE:LEN) shares fell 1%, KB Home (NYSE:KBH) 1.2% and Toll Bros. ...

02/25/2015 06:51 PM ET

More Business Articles:

Macau's gambling revenue tumbled almost 49% as China's anti-corruption campaign continued and high rollers took their money elsewhere in February. But the timing of the Lunar New Year also impacted results, says one analyst. Monthly gross revenue sank 48.6% to 19.5 billion patacas, or $2.4 billion, ...

Dick's Sporting Goods (NYSE:DKS) scored points with investors after the retailer posted fourth-quarter profits and sales that crushed views on Tuesday morning, sending Dick's stock nearly 4% higher in early trading in the stock market today. By early afternoon, shares were trading up just about ...

Citigroup (NYSE:C) agreed to sell its OneMain Financial unit to Springleaf Holdings for $4.25 billion, a major step in the New York-based bank's effort to slim down in the wake of the financial crisis. OneMain provides personal loans for consumers who need to pay unexpected bills or buy big-ticket ...

Shares of AutoZone (NYSE:AZO) moved to a new all-time high on the stock market today after the auto parts retailer topped quarterly sales and earnings estimates, helped by favorable weather conditions, low gas prices and a lower-than-expected tax rate. AutoZone shares climbed as high as 674.84, a ...

Select market data is provided by Interactive Data Corp. Real Time Services. Price and Volume data is delayed 20 minutes unless otherwise noted, is believed accurate but is not warranted or guaranteed by Interactive Data Corp. Real Time Services and is subject to Interactive Data Corp. Real Time Services terms. All times are Eastern United States. *Reflects real-time index prices.